Updates

Its been a while since I posted anything new here! Life has been crazy, but that's par for the course these days. I am finished with classes for the semester, and wrapping up my practicum hours this week. Geoff is gearing up for finals and working like a mad man due to the holidays that are rapidly approaching. Poor guy, he drove down here on Tuesday, before Thanksgiving, stayed til Thanksgiving at 4:00pm, drove back to Greeley and worked from 7pm until 4am, then drove straight back here. It was wonderful to have him here for Thanksgiving/my birthday. I am SO ready for us to be a family again, I miss him tremendously. Its hard on Eli too, he doesn't understand why Daddy is here sometimes and then he'll wake up and Daddy is gone. He has started calling my phone "dada" because that's the only way he gets to interact with dada. We have tried skyping but Eli doesn't get it and rarely are we both home at a reasonable hour for Eli to skype with his dad. Its hard, but everything has a season and we're doing what we have to do to get through this right now.

As far as school goes, Geoff has this semester and next semester as a part time student, and then the 2012-2013 school year (provided I can get a job!!) He should be in a good spot to quit Wal-Mart and go to school full time! If he can pass this semester and next, Eli and I will move back to Fort Collins (again, provided I can get a job) and live there while he finishes up. Ultimately I would like to be back in the Springs permanently. I think its better for Eli to be here with family and I love having so much support from my sister and my parents. Like today, my mom left work early because I threw out my back. She came home to help me with Eli so I could go to the chiropractor. Anyway, I also would rather pay Chelsea to watch Eli than some random stranger. She is amazing with him, and I love that he gets to spend so much time with his cousins. On my side of things, I have one semester of student teaching left and I will be the proud owner of a teaching license!! whoo!! Once that is complete, I will have 2 classes this summer to wrap up to finish my masters in elementary education. That is a big change from when I originally entered the program, initially it was an extra 5 classes towards either a masters in elementary education or curriculum studies, but in that year I took off, they revamped the program and I *should* fall under the new program which only requires 2 more classes after the licensure. After I get my teaching license, while I am working on my masters, I would like to attempt to take the PRAXIS exam in social studies. Right now the Colorado Dept. of Education accepts either the required classes in an endorsement area OR a passing grade on the subject area test. That is likely to change soon so if I can just take the exam before it does and pass it, I will be licensed to teach elementary school AND middle and high school social studies (includes history, government, geography, economics, civics) THEN on top of that, there is talk of bringing an English Language Learners (ELL) and Special Ed (SpEd) certificate to UNC. I would LOVE to have an endorsement in special ed. In fact, I am considering taking the 12 credits to get a certificate for autism...its not eligible for financial aid under the FAFSA because its non degree seeking, but I think it would be SO awesome to have that kind of diversity in my background.

On the Eli front, he is doing OK. We had a lot of sleeping issues a few weeks ago, and have sense transitioned back to co sleeping almost full time. I was having a really emotional almost meltdown over breastfeeding a few days ago, but feel better now. We had to stop cosleeping for a while because he would FREAK out if he wasnt latched on nursing all night. I can't sleep like that, it hurts my back and I never really get to sleep, I just sort of doze off and wake up in that panicky OMG-stop-touching-me mode. Not good. My mom helped me get Eli used to going back to sleep without me (and the boob) and she got up with him for a few nights in a row to let me get caught up on sleep and help Eli learn to sleep better. Now he is back in bed with me and doing great at going to sleep with cuddles instead of milk. This has been amazing in my redirection of Eli and I's breastfeeding relationship. I am content with where we are now and am much more comfortable having set some boundaries for us both. On that note, I am thinking of going to FoCo *gasp* without Eli this weekend. I will likely drive up on Saturday and spend the night and my mom and dad were going to come up Sunday anyway! I am nervous and excited to leave Eli overnight, but think it will be very good for Geoff and I to have a night to ourselves. We need it, especially with the distance we have between us right now.

Robinson Family, Thanksgiving 2011

I didnt mean to write a novel, there is just a lot going on here right now :o)